Graduation
by Skates16
Summary: Graduation is the end of your high school career and the start of your college one. Sometimes during the summer break in between people make mistakes, which is something Jackson has to learn the hard way. Especially if it involves someone he loves. Hiatus
1. Prologue

_Uhm... so I have decided to post this and 'Prank Wars' at the same time, for two reasons. 1, this is a more serious story and while there will be humour, it will be very angsty. Yay! And 2, the other one will be humourous, but short. Well, short compared to this one anyways... Also, for some weird reason, I decided to start writing in 2nd person in this prologue... I blame my English teacher for that. Oh yeah, this is Jackson centric, there will be some heavy family stuff, brother/sister bonding and such along with 1 couple... which I shall not say. :P_

**Prologue**

The school was silent, not a sound could be heard. It seemed like time had stopped, the world was frozen for a split second before chaos erupted. Every person in that building, sitting and standing, waited with baited breath for the final bell to toll, signaling the start of a new dawn, especially for the seniors.

They were all sitting in their classrooms, lounging around without a care for the world. They all new what would happen, the bell would ring; they would then all march in to the gymnasium and be forced to listen to graduation speeches and all that. So exciting.

And nerve racking.

The rest of the school didn't have a care; they were free to go once the bell rang. They didn't have to support the seniors, though some of them surely would. So they waited for the final bell to ring, because it signaled then end of the boring school year and the start of the summer holidays.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Some students watched the clock while others rested their heads on the table. Time seems to slow down when you want it to speed up, so best to not let temptation come in your way.

Foots tapped, fingers banged against the desk and the students sighed. Would this ever end?

Yes…

The bell went, students jumped up with their bags and rushed out of the classroom before the teachers could say anything. The seniors then got up and made their way to the gym, getting ready for graduation…

And then the graduation party.

_xXxXx_

Say you go to a party with the main intent of seeing your friends for the last time. That's all, you promise your father you won't drink at all and he trusts you. You get into your own car and pick your friends up before heading to the party's destination.

Which so happens to be at the richest girl in school's house.

You arrive and you're greeted with shouts by all your peers. Everyone knows you, but sometimes it's not because you're popular, just that you're funny. But who are you to complain? You'd never fit in with the popular, I mean that's the jocks.

You and your friends try and find a place for you to 'hang' at but the quarterback stops you. You two have had your differences before and, for old time's sake, he tries to get you to drink some beer. You remember what you promised your father, you know he's counting on you to be responsible for the first time in your life.

But you could start tomorrow, right?

You take the can and drink the beer. The taste seems to burn your throat, your stomach churns. You pass it off as your system not being used to the alcohol, because now you have the whole football team patting your back. Pretty soon there is another can of beer in your hand, but you don't down this one straight away.

After a while things start blurring. Is this your fifth can now? Can't remember… you see a girl, blonde hair. You don't recognize her… or you do. You can't put a name to the face.

Your friends push you towards her, telling you to be the man. Stupidly you listen to them and the next minute the two of you are making out. She's drunk two.

And after that, it's completely blank. You wake up the next morning sleeping in your car, head resting against the window. You're parked in front of the beach and you have a splitting headache.

You reek of alcohol and feel tired and sluggish. You rest you head against the head rest, dreading going home.

You know your father is going to be mad because you didn't come home and you have lost his trust. But that can change over the summer right? You still have your whole life ahead of you.

Starting the engine, you drive home, thinking you've left all your troubles behind you. Oh how wrong you are.

* * *

_Dun, dun, dun! I love Jackson, and I think he gets no credit on the show, so I am writing a Jackson centric fic. Unfortunately there is a lot I have planned for him in this, some good but mostly bad. It's called Tragedy and you can blame my drama teachers for that then. _

_Anyways, good, bad? Continue or no? And the prologue for 'Prank Wars' should be up later._


	2. The Morning After

_Gah... so sorry you guys haven't gotten any updates from me in a while, very busy. I am currently in South Korea for 3 weeks, visiting as I'm moving there at the end of the year if you didn't know that. So sorry that this is short, it's kinda a filler as I originally had chapter 2 as the following one, but didn't make sense and did this instead. So chapter 1 turns out to be a filler, but I didn't want to rush into drama just yet. So... enjoy it. _

**Chapter 1-**

**The Morning After**

She woke up, not sure where she was. The events of last night were all a blur, until he came along.

Never in a million years would she think he'd give her the time of day, but he did. The way he kissed her… the way he made her feel…

And what happened afterwards.

Slowly realization dawned on her and she knew where she was. She slowly stood up and dusted the sand off her clothes, and looked around. The early morning rays of sunshine hit the ocean and lightened up the sky.

She had to get home. Yes, she was going to go home and crawl underneath the covers of her bed and just sleep…

And forget.

_xXxXx_

"Jackson Rod Stewart, where have you been?"

"Uhm… out?" Jackson said and then rubbed his eyes. God, couldn't his dad just let him off the hook this once? It's not like he stays out late every night and gets wasted.

"You got drunk, didn't you?" Robbie Ray asked. Jackson grimaced.

"Don't shout." Jackson muttered.

"He's not shouting!" Miley added, but shouted in Jackson's ear. Jackson gave her a death glare while she just smiled sweetly at him.

"Jackson, I told you not to drink." Robbie started, but Jackson just threw his hands up.

"Dad! I know, ok? But I'm legal now and I'm not a little kid. I can handle myself." He shouted, and then regretted it as the headache just got worse. "And I'm going back to bed."

Before Robbie could say anything else, Jackson ran past him and up the stairs. Miley looked at her father, expecting him to go upstairs and talk to him, but instead Robbie Ray walked over to the kitchen.

"You're making him breakfast?" Miley asked, following him.

"No, I'm going to make something to help with his hang over." He told her. "Just go easy on him today bud."

"Fine. I'll leave the house then and phone Lilly or Oliver." She said, walking away and taking her cell phone out. She sent both her friends a text, but Oliver replied almost instantly. Miley frowned; usually Lilly was the first one to reply.

But she just shrugged it off, remembering how excited Lilly was the day before because her father was coming to visit. Miley looked over at her father as he started blending some sort of concoction that was slowly turning green. Miley made a disgusted face and quickly left the house.

_xXxXx_

It seemed nothing would help, Jackson had just taken two painkillers and the headache wasn't going away. This was a sure sign that whatever happened last night would never ever happen again.

But there was something really bothering him and that was the fact that he couldn't remember what happened last night. All he could remember was drinking and hanging out with his friends… there was a girl, but he can't remember much of her.

So how did he end up in his car on the beach? Actually, Shelly's house was near the beach so it must have been pretty close, or he wasn't the one to drive there. Jackson groaned as all this thinking made his headache worse.

"Yea, I think the same thing when I come in here." He heard his father say. Jackson sat up on his bed and looked at Robbie Ray who stood in his door way, looking at the mess that is Jackson's room. Jackson, however, noticed the glass in his father's hands.

"What's that?" He asked. Robbie Ray walked towards Jackson's bed and handed him the glass.

"Drink this; it should help with your hang over." He said. Jackson took the glass, planning on drinking the whole thing in one go but one taste and he quickly spat it out. "I forgot to mention it has a bitter taste."

"What is in it?" Jackson asked.

"You don't want to know. Now hurry up and drink that and get some rest." Robbie Ray said as he walked out of the room.

"Thanks dad." Jackson said as he took another sip of the drink, trying to ignore the taste. After a while he felt the throbbing in his head subsided and he lay down to sleep. Though in his dreams, there was something wrong, something he couldn't pin point. All it was was a laugh.


	3. 2 Weeks Later

_Not many people are interested in this fic, so I decided to stop dragging out what must happen. 'Cause I have no idea how to do that anymore anyways._

**Chapter 2-**

**Two Weeks Later**

"Hey Jackson, can I get two hotdogs?" Miley asked as she approached the counter at Rico's. Jackson nodded and quickly made the hotdogs, trying to get rid of his sister as fast as possible.

"Lilly not joining you today?" He asked as he handed them over.

"No, Lilly's out with her father today, he leaves tomorrow so she wants to spend as much time with him as she can." Miley said and then walked away towards Oliver who was trying to chat up some chick. Jackson shook his head at him as the girl slapped him and walked away.

"Never learns." Says another voice; one that Jackson finds more annoying than Miley's. He turns slightly to see Rico perched on the counter, busy drinking a soda. "I'd give him some tips, but he's too stupid to actually use them."

"Nice Rico." Jackson said before turning away. Ignoring Rico can be either good or bad, he may not annoy you or it may come back to haunt you a while later.

Now was a bad time to ignore Rico.

"So, I've been thinking." He said, jumping off the counter and then moving to sit on the stool in front of Jackson, forcing him now to pay attention. "You're leaving in a couple of weeks for college. Which means I need to find someone to replace you."

"And you're telling me this because?" Jackson asked impatiently.

"I need you to help find me someone who's just a stupid as you, because honestly, all the guys here are stupid."

"So pick one."

"No, they have to be the same level of stupidity as you."

Jackson frowned, not following Rico, who looked all serious as he continued the discussion on how he needs to find this one person who has to be like Jackson so he can annoy him, blah, blah, blah. He looked away from the little devil and noticed Lilly running down to the beach from his house.

She must be looking for Miley then, as she ran past Rico's and down to the beach where Miley and Oliver happened to go. He watched her the entire time and Rico noticed Jackson's attention had wavered and he turned to see who he could possibly be looking at other than Rico himself.

"Lilly?" He asked, turning to Jackson whose attention had snapped back to Rico as soon as he said her name. "Do you like Lilly?"

"No, I was just daydreaming since your monologue sent me to sleep."

"You were daydreaming about Lilly?"

"No! Just… ok, I'll help you find someone to replace me then." He said to distract Rico. It seemed to work as he then smiled, laughed and then ran off, making Jackson wonder if he had truly given up that sugar.

_xXxXx_

Lilly was in trouble. Huge trouble and there was only one person to talk to. Unfortunately that one person wasn't at her house, so she assumed Miley had left for the beach already. Her plans with her father fell through, her parents got into another argument and her dad stormed off, leaving Lilly. She didn't mind so much about this, her mind was elsewhere and she needed to talk to Miley.

She ran past Rico's and headed straight for the beach. She didn't notice anyone else as she ran until she reached her two friends sitting on their beach towels. "I need to talk to you." Lilly said breathlessly to Miley. "Now."

"Uh, ok…" Miley got up and looked at Oliver who frowned in confusion. The two thought it must have been a girl emergency since she'd signaled only Miley out. "You ok Lilly? I thought you were with your dad."

"Parents got into a fight. Can we go talk somewhere privately?" She asked. Miley nodded and led Lilly down the beach to a small piece of grass on the boarder of someone's garden and the beach. There was no one around here, so they sat down on the grass. Lilly looked down at her hands while Miley stared at her friend.

"Ok, what is going on then?" Miley finally asked when it became apparent that Lilly wasn't going to say anything. Lilly looked up from her hands and looked in her friends face. She felt like she was going to be sick, but she had to say it.

"It happened a few weeks ago…"

_xXxXx_

Jackson got home from Rico's late. He was really pissed off at Rico for keeping him there for an extra hour, so when he entered the house that night he slammed the door. His father looked up from the TV and Robbie Ray was going to say something to him, but thought better of it. Jackson stormed through the house and up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He threw open his own bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him. He searched the floor for some clean clothes to put on, but settled for a random shirt.

Now in a more reasonably calm mood, Jackson left his room with the intention of going out partying with his friends. But he stopped outside Miley's room as he heard sobbing in there. He was frozen on the spot; most people would think he'd just leave her there to cry, but Jackson was a caring brother if he wanted to be. Now was not a time when he wanted to be, but it was his brotherly duty to find out what was wrong, get told off, then go on his way.

"Miles? You ok?" Jackson asked, knocking on the door. The sobbing stopped, but he got no response. Thinking that maybe it was because she didn't want to speak to him, Jackson turned around to walk away when Miley opened the door.

"It's Lilly." She said.

"Lilly? What has she done?" Jackson asked, now slightly interested. Miley turned around and walked back to her bed, but left the door open so Jackson walked in. He sat down in the chair in the corner and waited for Miley to tell him more.

"She told me something bad may be happening, but she doesn't know for sure." Miley finally said, wiping away tears. Jackson nodded, Lilly was like the second sister he really didn't want, but he still cared for her. Deeply.

"She said she gate crashed your senior party, the day after graduation." Miley continued as Jackson nodded. "She said it was an accident because it was at her neighbor's house, she lost the key and they had it. Her mother wasn't home."

When Miley burst out crying again, Jackson suddenly realised something bad had happened at the party.

"Miley, what happened to Lilly?" He demanded. Miley shook her head and buried her face into her pillow. Jackson got out of his seat and walked over to her, pulling his sister's face away from the pillow. "What happened to Lilly? Did someone hurt her?"

Miley shook her head, but then nodded. She stopped and then shrugged and started crying even harder. Jackson let go of her, completely bewildered by his sister's weird behaviour. He had half the mind to call Lilly up and demand to know what happened when Miley finally told him what was bugging her.

"Lilly slept with someone and now she's pregnant."

* * *

_Ok, I don't want anyone telling me I made in obvious or anything along those lines, DRAMATIC IRONY! If you don't know what that is, it's when the audience knows what's going to happen but the characters don't. I get sick and tired of people telling me I made it too obvious, when really that is what I'm trying to do. Anyways, hopefully now I will be able to write more for this..._


End file.
